I was reading this article in the wsj regarding the owner of Miracle Grow wanting to target pot growers now to expand sales. It was all good until the bottom where they reference a different grow forum. That made me feel very good that attention was being placed elsewhere and not on icmag.

On a sidenote, it would be kinda cool to have your screen name be printed in the wsj!! Kind of a badge of honor!!

https://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has long sold weed killer. Now, it's hoping to help people grow killer weed.

In an unlikely move for the head of a major company, Scotts Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company.

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The iGrow Superstore, which specializes in pot-growing supplies, opened in Oakland, Calif., in 2010.
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"I want to target the pot market," Mr. Hagedorn said in an interview. "There's no good reason we haven't."

Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.—for nearly two-thirds of its revenue. With consumers still cautious about spending, the retailers aren't building new stores as quickly as they used to, making growth for suppliers like Scotts harder to come by. Against that backdrop, Mr. Hagedorn has pushed his regional sales presidents to look for smaller pockets of growth, such as the marijuana market, that together could produce a noticeable bump in sales.

Sixteen states have legalized medical marijuana, the largest being California and Colorado. The market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, according to a report by See Change Strategy LLC, an information data services company.

While the report focuses on revenue from growers and dispensaries, Kris Lotlikar, president of See Change, said the market for companies selling hydroponic equipment and professional services is also thriving.

"We see very good growth for these types of companies as the medical-marijuana business grows," he said.
Altered States

Top US markets for medical marijuana, forecast 2011 sales

* California: $1.3 billion
* Colorado: $244 million
* Michigan: $53 million
* Montana: $44 million
* Washington: $29 million

Source: See Change Strategy LLC

Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, but federal raids on medical dispensaries have eased since President Obama took office. And while major public companies haven't openly targeted the market, in recent months medical-marijuana companies have sought money from venture capitalists and signaled future IPOs.

Centennial Seed Co., a Boulder, Colo., medical-cannabis seed seller, is seeking $500,000 through a private offering. General Cannabis Inc., whose stock trades on the Pink Sheets, supports the medical-marijuana market with financial and Internet services.
Journal Community

The 55-year-old Mr. Hagedorn isn't a typical suit-wearing CEO. A former F-16 fighter pilot, he flies his Cessna to and from meetings in Port Washington, N.Y., where he grew up, and the company's headquarters in Ohio, much to the chagrin of his board. He also peppers his language with swear words and military references, and he showed up at the office on a recent June day in jeans and sneakers.

Mr. Hagedorn took over Miracle-Gro from his father, who co-founded the company. The idea to merge with Scotts dawned on him after he looked at the company's market value in 1995, he said, so he called his father's tax lawyer to vet the idea. "I said, 'Bob, I got this f— crazy idea. Do you think it'd be f— possible to take over Scotts?'" he recalls, sitting in the Port Washington office that his father once occupied.

Mr. Hagedorn is serious about sales growth, no matter how small. On a recent trip to a Farmingdale, N.Y., Home Depot, he saw a customer having a difficult time choosing soil. "C'mon, go help him out," he told Mike Carbonara, Scotts' president for the Northeast. A few minutes later, the customer was walking away with a bag of Miracle-Gro. Over the next half hour, Mr. Carbonara influenced three more sales.
[COLLAPSE]

Jim Hagedorn

Targeting marijuana isn't the only way Mr. Hagedorn is pursuing growth outside the national chains. Scotts is also looking to sell more through grocery stores.

And the company is recultivating its ties to independent lawn-and-garden-store owners, including offering them exclusive products. Mr. Hagedorn strained those ties with a 2009 speech in which he criticized the owners for not doing enough to promote Scotts products, prompting many owners to walk out.

"I don't give speeches to independents anymore," he said.

To target marijuana growers, Scotts would likely buy niche dirt companies that already exist rather than create its own line of branded products.

Raids on pot-growing operations have turned up Scotts products. Mr. Hagedorn takes that as a good sign of brand awareness, but he fears that some growers would be reluctant to use a mainstream product.

Rollitup.org, a website geared toward the marijuana-growing community, has several forums that debate Miracle-Gro's effectiveness. A user with the moniker Weedqueen12 wrote: "i think [Miracle-Gro] works well." Another user, dannyboy602, countered that Miracle-Gro causes pot plants to "burn and stress."

In the past, Scotts wouldn't have considered pursuing businesses or product lines that generated less than $10 million a year in revenue. But, Mr. Hagedorn said, "We can't operate our business like that anymore."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/14...ijuana-market/

Scotts Miracle-Gro is reportedly exploring how to enter the medical marijuana market.
Scotts Chief [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Executive[/color] Jim Hagedorn told The Wall Street Journal that the company is considering the move to help boost sales at the lawn and garden company perhaps best known for weed killer.
"I want to target the pot market," Hagedorn told the newspaper. "There's no good reason we haven't."
Sales at Scotts rose 5 percent last year to $2.9 billion, but the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers -- Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- for nearly two-thirds of its [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]revenue[/color][/color], the newspaper reports.
And with consumers still cautious regarding spending, those retailers are not opening new stores as quickly as usual, making growth for suppliers like Scotts difficult. As a result, Hagedorn has asked his regional salesmen to look for smaller pockets of growth like the marijuana market to pad sales. To target marijuana growers, Scotts would likely buy niche dirt companies that already exist rather than create its own line of branded products, the Journal reports.
A total of 16 states have legalized [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]medical [COLOR=blue !important]marijuana[/color][/color][/color]. The market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, according to a report by See Change Strategy LLC, an information data services company.



Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/14...#ixzz1PILgHThn[/color]

[somniferum420]

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/mon...cc4c03286.html

Posted: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 5:18 pm | Updated: 5:41 pm, Tue Jun 14, 2011.
Scotts Miracle-Gro exploring role in medical marijuana market By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services East Valley Tribune
The company that promises it will help you grow bigger tomatoes is showing some interest in helping you grow more potent pot.
“I want to target the pot market,” Jim Hagedorn, chief executive of Scotts Miracle-Gro company told the Wall Street Journal. “There’s no good reason we haven’t.”


But Hagedorn’s desire to have his company become the first thing marijuana growers think of when planning their crop appears to be little more than aspirational, at least for the time being.
“Currently, this is one of many different niche markets the company might explore,’’ Scotts spokesman Lance Latham told Capitol Media Services. “But we have not actively pursued opportunities in this market.”
The need for some horticultural help for home hemp operations is particularly acute in Arizona.
State health officials, citing possible conflicts with federal law, are refusing to accept applications from individuals and companies interested in opening up one of 125 dispensaries mandated under last year’s voter-approved law.
But they are continuing to process requests by individuals who have a doctor’s recommendation that they would benefit from being able to use marijuana. And state law says these people are entitled to request to grow their own marijuana if there is no dispensary within 25 miles — which, for the time being, means all of the more than 5,000 people who are now “qualified patients.”
More to the point, the law allows each user to grow up to 12 plants at any one time. But there is no limit on the potency or the size of the plants.
And that’s where good fertilizer could come in.
Latham said that Hagedorn’s comments were part of a broader conversation where he was discussing the “vast diversity of lawn and garden consumers and why he believes it’s important for us to explore and understand new opportunities in niche markets.”


Interesting, altho i dont see it catching on. To much bad rep in the past with cannabis.
Peace

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

wow i think ohio will be on the ballet and pass in 2012

[beanpopper33]

I used to rock the miracle grow made my life easy as can be. Didn't like the taste though.

[Grass Lands]

Originally Posted by beanpopper33

I used to rock the miracle grow made my life easy as can be. Didn't like the taste though.

same here...nice looking buds...flavor was drab though...

[superbolan]

I love the mainstream companies coming on board, Helps to legitimize it IMHO.

[TB Gardens]

if big business is behind it.. rest is history

[DrPoison]

yup yup...the more the merrier!

[señorsloth]

yeah of course miracle grow and scott's doesn't give a flying crap about marijuana or producing products that help to grow it better!

they are a huge faceless corporation that cares about only one thing: INCREASING PROFITS! all they do is sponge up any tiny bit of money and free enterprise that they can get their grimey fingers on!

miracle grow has no intentions of actually researching and producing marijuana related fertilizers, their "plan" for getting into our industry is to buy out a bunch of smaller established companies, then most likely streamline everything in the way corporations do, move half the operation overseas and then find the cheapest ingredients on the planet, while marketing the product and company as some sort of small coalition of people who only love gardening and take no short cuts to get the best out of their gardens...

in reality, whatever companies they decide to buy out will see a sharp decline in quality as scott's immediately tries to squeeze every penny out of us that they can, while making their new products as cost effective to make as possible. eventually it will be made from the exact same environmentally damaging sources as the garbage they produce now, with just as much, if not more heavy metals and radiation.